Posted on May 25, 2019
SPC Practical/Vocational Nursing
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My hospital got a new interactive communication system that has an app that can be used. My unit is implementing the systems use and mandating that all SMs must have the app downloaded on their phone. Using the app allows for ease of access but does not prevent the system from being used as there is a huge interface on unit.

I do not want to download this app as I know it would turn into SMs taking work home. I already work a minimum of 84 hours a pay period and majority of the time I work more than that. When I leave my work I do not intent to take it home with me.

Can I be forced to download this app on my personal cell phone?
Posted in these groups: Bd5a6159 Cell PhonesNCOIC02f0e5c2 Team OIC
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Responses: 7
SFC Retention Operations Nco
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No of course not. But they can sure make you check in, in person, every other hour, and that sure makes a phone app easier
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LTC Jason Mackay
LTC Jason Mackay
5 y
SPC (Join to see) is this app an emergency notification system like Everbridge? Or is it a health system related protected messaging system so you can talk patient care?

I had my entire installation register for Everbridge which we bought into with a mix of funds. It made announcing snow days and the like very easy and reliable. I could also locate users that registered if we had not found them in a few days (like in Hurricane Sandy). Out of 6000, I had 12 hold out that with aluminum foil hats on at a jaunty angle, were convinced this was an invasion of privacy. Funny, because I got those 12 protests, I knew only one of those persons. His complaint was about his information being sold (legit concern), which we were able to solve. For emergency management and safety reasons, I would not fight and die on this hill as SFC (Join to see) alludes.

Your going in position on the original post doesn't give me anything to digest. Obviously, if someone wanted me to download and install Pokémon Go as an extension of the PT program, I'd fight my way through that obstacle belt. If it is soldier safety, I would not.

An approach to this, is establishing ground rules as a command for this app. Perhaps an open door recommendation to the command or the proponent to this system. Learn to complain constructively.
- does the information required relate to patient safety? If yes, you'll get bothered. If not, it waits until tomorrow.
- does the information put people, equipment, or facilities at risk? If yes, prepare to be bothered.
- does it relate to something you were charged to do and it did not get done without proper relief from a superior? Prepare to get bothered at home. Does it impact another shift after you left and no one else knows? Prepare to get bothered at home.
- is it an unforeseen emergency? Life sucks, get a helmet because youlll get a call.
- was there a massive change after you departed for the day it impacts what you do first thing in the morning? Prepare to be bothered.
- does it relate to safety and safety precautions outside normal SOP (snow storm, hurricane, serial killer etc)? Prepare to be bothered at home.

What I think are unreasonable expectations:
- responding to routine requests for information
- responding to people wondering aloud about something outside of above.
- routine taskings outside the above items
- expectations that youll respond to every ping and ding of the phone within 30 seconds from dead sleep, showers, swimming pools, intimate moments etc. if it is that important, it needs to be prefaced with voice to voice communications. It Is OK to send email as a refining element once the communications has been initiated. Text is a gray area. I'm ok with getting a text if it stands on its own. If I didn't get a response fairly soon after, voice call...if it is an emergency.

What work are you concerned about following you home? It's you, your ball cap, and a phone at home. The only reason you'd get a call I say because they need what is in your head, they want you back in(which you are on 24 hour call anyway), or it is something first thing that changed. If they are calling at 2am to discuss SSD2 progress, then that is an issue.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AiMJ/vicks-zzzquil-big-day-tomorrow
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SPC Practical/Vocational Nursing
SPC (Join to see)
5 y
LTC Jason Mackay no sir it’s the Safe & Reliable Care LENS board. It is a staff communication tool to communicate things such as work orders, floor issues, equipment flow, etc. It’s primary function to the capacity that my floor plans on using it could equate it to a public forum board for staff purely used on the operations of the floor and to voice complaints. They are not putting patient info or anything like that due to HIPAA.

Say their is a work order and someone from leadership wants to “task” it to you all they have to do is hit two buttons and bam you are getting cellphone notifications about what ever the issue is no matter where you are or what your doing. My concern is at that point it is impossible to disconnect from work, short of turning your phone off. It is adding urgency and the expectation of immediate resolution to things unnecessarily. I’m not saying I won’t coming in for for a crisis or emergent needs, I am more than aware that I volunteered but is the tool worth bombarding your staff with notifications on things like broken sinks, or that we are short and had to borrow IV fluids from another floor.

It really is a hill I don’t want to die but as implementing it appears to be a work trap more than a emergency management tool.
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LTC Jason Mackay
LTC Jason Mackay
5 y
SPC (Join to see) - on the flip side you can leverage this to describe how tasked you are....here it is black and white. You can leverage this for task continuity, i.e. You never gave me that task or you gave that to be 30 minutes ago and I'm working on it. It allows you to be somewhere else and still be connected, so if you needed a quick run to the Ed Center, you're ok. I'm guessing it gives everyone a common operating picture and one central repository? Perhaps shared understanding will prevent you from being called or bothered at home, as everyone can see it if I understand what you mean with this system.

I'm back to you at home, not on property. Can you do anything about fluids on the floor? Except maybe know that needs doing when you come in tomorrow?

Is this tool tied to any accreditation items for when whatever they call JACHO now?
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LTC Jason Mackay
LTC Jason Mackay
5 y
MSG (Anonymous) - well SPC (Join to see) there is your answer....Joint Commission finding. Good luck fighting that. They are the collective leinholders on your command's soul.
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SGM G3 Sergeant Major
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84 hours sounds like a lot. But for a Soldier working Monday-Friday, that's about 6-7 hours a day. This is a hospital, so I assume what you mean is a week with 3 x 12 hr shifts, and a week with 4 x 12 shifts, with 3 or 4 days off per week. For every deployed NCO working 12 hour shifts 7 days a week for 9 months in a TOC, and every NCO back home working 10-12 hours a day Monday-Friday, plus the occasional weekend managing extra duty, remedial PT, picking up Soldiers at the police or MP station, and writing NCOERs, awards and training schedules, your schedule sounds like a pretty good deal.
Back in the olden days, before smart phones, information was put out in formations. And some of those formations meant showing up for an hour even if it was your "day off".
Seems like a free app on your phone is a better deal.
You work in a hospital, I don't know how much HIPAA-related work your command expects you to deal with on your unencrypted personal phone or personal computer, but I am willing to bet it is close to zero. So I assume the primary use of this would be informational: schedule updates, DLC and online training reminders, etc.
Bear in mind, just about every award you have seen, every NCO that got an NCOER, those documents were the product of leaders doing those write-ups on "their own time" at night and on weekends, because the Army does not shut down at quitting time.
You are in the Army 24 hours a day until you get out.
And when you do get out, you will be disappointed to learn that most civilian employers also like to be able to contact you when you are not at work.
So for now, just download the app and try to appreciate how much worse your Army experience could have been while you enjoy your 3 and 4 day weekends.
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
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I do not understand your aversion to a method of communication (it appears is to refine the flow of information) that assists your unit in oroviding you with vital real time information. 84 hours a pay period? You are in the Army, you are not paid by the hour, you are paid a flat salary and work toward mission requirements not bybthe hour. Your phone is yours, let your conscience be your guide, there are many appropriate ways in which your unit leadership can influence your decision without violating the law, your 84 hours will likely increase. This is truly not worth it. Consent and see how it is used, I am sure it is intended to benefit both the unit and the Soldier. If you don’t like it, deletvit and start back here.
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SPC Practical/Vocational Nursing
SPC (Join to see)
5 y
CSM, I completely understand where you’re coming from and I do believe that it will help in refining the flow of information. My concern is that with the growing dependence on technology has also grown the expectation of instant gratification. To what point should a soldier allow work technology (I’ll call it this because it’s a platform designed for the area I work in) into their private lives knowing fully that it not on becomes easier but also invites those with authority over you to turn your down time (for many family time) and personal space into work with out you even stepping foot into your work space. I’m not opposed to an technologically integrated world but we haven’t thought about the implications on how it will effect people in every aspect of life. I personally am not ready to invite work into my house, the restaurants I eat at, and the places I travel to.

I didn’t want to but I had to use pay period because for staffing and man hours at the hospital we have to log our time based on civilian pay periods.
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
CSM Darieus ZaGara
5 y
I would still recommend you participate in the program, if certain leaders become invasive you can discuss with the COC and possibly recommend solutions or controls related to when someone can be contacted. If this is a new program it will require modifications. I now oversee many Federal employees, most of which are Bargaining Unit and there are many rules, none of which restrict communication but does place controls. SPC (Join to see)
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